During Apple’s event last Wednesday, the most anticipated announcement was probably regarding the new iPhone 6s  and 6s Plus. Despite Apple shares sudden dip after the announcement as investors weren’t that happy with the new devices, we’re pretty intrigued with some of the new features of the iPhones, specifically the new Selfie capabilities.

Retina Flash

The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus’ front-facing camera have been upgraded from 1.2MP to 5MP. Most innovative, however, is the new Retina Flash on the front-facing camera, which uses the iPhone display itself as a flash, offering more options when taking selfies for Instagram.

According to Apple, the Retina Flash works like this: when you take a selfie, a preflash created by the Retina Display detects the lighting around you. A True Tone flash on the display matches the ambient light to create a shot that features true-to-life colors and more natural-looking skin tones. This is all possible via a custom display chip that allows the display to flash three times brighter than its normal brightness.

Emergency Selfie

Apple’s Craig Federighi also demoed the ’emergency selfie’ feature of the new iPhones during the event. So what is it? The ’emergency selfie’ is for those times you have to take a selfie ASAP, something only selfie enthusiasts would understand. Maybe you caught a glimpse of your reflection while walking down the street, and the lighting is just right for a selfie. With Apple’s new feature, the selfie camera can be pulled up directly from a tiny drop-down menu under the camera icon – no more opening the camera app then flipping to the front-facing camera (more details below).

3D Touch for Camera

Additionally, Apple introduced a new 3D Touch feature in the new iPhones, which delivers different actions depending on how hard you’re pressing on the screen. Press lightly on an app and it pops up a Quick Action. In the case of the camera app, press on the camera icon to bring up its Quick Action which includes Take Selfie, Record Video, Record Slo-mo, and Take Photo. This shortcut allows you to launch the camera in FaceTime as opposed to opening the camera app then tapping on the little camera icon to flip from iSight to FaceTime. This saves you may be a few seconds which is crucial in taking the perfect selfie.

Live Photos

Live Photos is a new feature for both the FaceTime and iSight cameras. This feature captures a photo as well as the moments just before and after it was taken, and it adds sounds and movement. Think of it like a GIF or a quick video, but with still photos played in quick succession that is enhanced with sound.

After the Live Photo is taken, press on the photo to see the moment come to life. Live Photos can be set as your Lock screen wallpaper so you can see that special moment every time you check on your phone. By having this feature available on the FaceTime camera, you can capture more context around your images, such as how you’ve prepared your perfect smile, or how your friends giggled when you said you’re taking a groufie.

Photo by D.Boyarrin